Delph and Man City

Buried in an article on the Guardian about Carlos Tevez slipping in the shower and potentially missing the opener for Man City:

Hughes has spent £94m so far on what the manager has described as an "exceptional" summer but not everything has gone City's way. Leeds United revealed today that English football's biggest spenders had tried to sign Fabian Delph before Aston Villa had a £6m bid accepted on Monday.

City lodged an offer of the same amount on Saturday but, according to the Leeds chairman, Ken Bates, the club's English-based hierarchy then had to get ratification from their owners in Abu Dhabi and asked for the talks to be shelved for a week.

"We had accepted an offer from Manchester City on Saturday which they had to go back with to the owner in the Gulf," Bates said. "Then apparently they needed a week to think about it which surprised us, considering the size of the deal.

So let me get this straight, Manchester City can drop millions on a list of players, some good pickups, some questionable, but they need a week to get a relative pittance approved for a top prospect such as Fabian Delph? As a Villa fan I'm relieved, we will gladly take Delph. It's just a bit odd that they'd have to go through such a process to approve the Delph purchase.

Villa sign Delph...let's the transfer season begin!

With speculation ongoing since late May it was nice to see Villa follow through and sign 19-year-old Fabian Delph. I've been excited about the prospect of Delph coming to Villa Park for quite a while now and Martin O'Neil secured the services of Delph from Leeds, holding off Manchester City. He adds to what is beginning to be an almost Arsenalesque stable of young stars at Villa. As often happens in the football fan world I've gone from leary to excited in the span of a week as Villa defeated Juventus in penalties to win the preseason Peace Cup, but more importantly showcased their stable of young talent. If O'Neil can follow through and shore up the center defense and the midfield in the coming week with three to four signings I'm confident that the club will again compete with Arsenal/Man City/Everton/Tottenham for the big 4th spot in the Premier League.

What a young core MON has put together through the transfer market and the youth system. You can add Delph to already established young stars such as Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and James Milner. Couple that group with the likes of Craig Gardner, Barry Bannon, Marc Albrighton and American Eric Lichaj and Villa have put together quite a young contingent of talent. What caught my eye in catching a replay of the Peace Cup final was the pace and talent of Albrighton on the right wing. He may only be nineteen but I feel his play warrants real competition for James Milner out there. Albrighton is clearly ready for the step up to the first squad and I'm curious what this means for Milner. It will be interesting to see what O'Neil does. If he goes ahead and signs Miquel Veloso as rumored the midfield suddenly goes from a position of weakness to real squad depth for Villa. Not to mention the Christmas present of the potential of Stewart Downing coming late in the year.

A couple of questions. 1) Will Delph play immediately? Considering they paid between 6 and 8 million for him (to be determined) I think he most definitely plays immediately. Like any Villa fan I've been following the Leeds message boards and watching him on YouTube and I'm more impressed than ever. He has tremendous pace and although he hasn't scored a ton of goals the ones he's scored have been absolute crackers. I like the fact that he's a left footed player and should really compliment the attack from center midfield. If they go ahead and sign Veloso to play the holding mid-field role Villa would really have a nice balance in the center. As Delph progresses the presence of Veloso would really compliment his skills.

What's the big wild card? 2) The big wild card is the rumored attempt to sign Wesley Sneijder. Just when it seems he was destined for Inter that rumor seems to have cooled. Sneijder took a look at Villa last summer but ended up at Real Madrid. The idea of an attacking talent like Sneijder coming to Villa Park is almost too exciting to ponder. If there is even a remote chance of it happening it's worth ponying up the money for such an attacking talent with real ability to be a difference maker in the Premier League.

I'm not holding my breath on Sneijder but as indicated I feel a heck of a lot better about the club right now. With Young, Downing, Delph, Milner, Albrighton, Petrov, etc Villa are looking very strong in the midfield. One more potential pickup there and some defensive depth and I think we may be able to forget that brutal second half of last season.

Less than two weeks. Bring on Wigan!